Yusuf's previous positions include: Legal Adviser and Director of the Office of International Standards and Legal Affairs for
UNESCO from March 2001 to January 2009, Legal Advisor (1994–1998) and Assistant Director General for African Affairs,
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna (1998–2001), Representative and Head of the New York office of the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (1992–1994) and Chief of the Legal Policies Service of UNCTAD (1987–1992), Lecturer in law at the Somali National University (1974–1981) and at the
University of Geneva (1981–1983), and Somali delegate to the Third
United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1975–1980). He has also been guest professor and lecturer at a number of universities and institutes in
Switzerland,
Italy,
Greece and
France. Yusuf was elected to the
Institut de droit international in 1999 and is currently a member. He is the founder and General Editor of the African Yearbook of International Law. Yusuf is also one of the founders of the African Foundation for International Law, as well as the chairperson of its executive committee. In addition, Yusuf has authored several books and numerous articles on various aspects of international law as well as articles and op-ed pieces in newspapers on current Northeast African and Somali affairs. He is a member of the editorial advisory board of the Asian Yearbook of International Law, and a member of the Thessaloniki Institute of Public International Law and International Relations curatorium. He also previously served as a judge ad hoc at the
International Court of Justice.
ICJ Judge On 6 February 2009, he was appointed as a judge at the
International Court of Justice. On 6 February 2015, he was elected vice-president of the court. In 2011, Yusuf would later gain a seat in the advisory council of
The Hague Institute for Global Justice. On 6 February 2018, Yusuf was appointed
President of the International Court of Justice. He became the third African to hold the title after Nigeria's
Taslim Olawale Elias (1982-1985) and Algeria's
Mohamed Bedjaoui (1994-1997). On 6 June 2025 he announced that he would resign from the Court, effective from 30 September of the same year. The UN
Security Council and the
General Assembly elected Kenya's
Phoebe Okowa to complete Yusuf's term, which would have concluded in February 2027. == Publications ==